In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the use of automatic vending equipment systems for vending consumer goods and other commodities such as, for example, gasoline. Many of these systems involve the use of an appropriately pre-programmed credit card which not only actuates the system, but also allows for communication with a central computer to facilitate identification of the consumer and enable appropriate accounting at the completion of the sale.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,438 describes an automatic vending system designed for use either with equipment which sells individual articles or with bulk dispensing equipment, such as gasoline pumps. The system includes a special credit card construction which is pre-coded with information relating to the consumer. A validating mechanism is also provided for ensuring that the card is being used by a purchaser to whom the card was originally issued, to reduce the risk of fraudulent use of the card by an unauthorized person.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,452 discloses a vending system which is particularly suited for installation in hotels or the like for permitting guests to buy articles in a refrigerator or vending machine located in a guest room without the use of coins. The guest is provided with a key holder which includes a memory, and the key holder is used to actuate the vending machine to dispense the desired articles. The vending system is also able to calculate the sum of the articles sold, and to prepare an appropriate bill for the guest.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,626 describes a system for use in a gasoline station for automatically actuating the fuel pumps using a customer credit card. A remote customer controlled console is located at a gasoline dispensing island, and a selected gasoline pump is actuated by the customer inserting a credit card into the console. The console is in communication with a central computer, and permits the customer to provide "collateral" prior to operating the fuel pump. In this way, "drive-offs" in which a driver refuels the vehicle and then drives away without paying are minimized.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,992 describes a device for validating a plastic card for operating postage meters. This permits replenishment of the postage meter without having to take the meter to the Post Office.
As is clear from the above discussed prior patents, the use of cards for actuating vending systems is old. The systems in the above patents facilitate either the dispensing of specific consumer items such as prepackaged food, or materials such as gasoline, or enable reactuation of a postage meter after a particular monetary charge has been depleted. None of the above prior developments is concerned with a system for enabling the supply to a consumer of utility services including electricity, gas, water or oil, or other services such as telephone or cable television, over a particular desired time period.